Dobson's station was officially opened (before its completion) by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1850. Dobson, who was a friend of J. W. M. Turner, William Holman Hunt, and others, worked in the neo-classical tradition. This is considered to be his most important public work, although he also made a major contribution to the redevelopment of central Newcastle. The station itself "is regarded by many as the finest station in England. It was the first covered station in the world and was the precursor of all great station roofs" (Alan Meyers' Newcastle Timeline).
According to the ODNB entry on Dobson, "It has a fine, curving train shed of iron and glass [shown here], a model of which was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and which won Dobson an honourable mention, and a facade in the grand style of Vanbrugh, even in the altered and reduced form in which it was finally completed in 1863" [JB].